Millennium
by elevenoclockghost
Summary: Two years after a mission to the Digital World that ended in tragedy, the surviving Tamers receive a visitor they never expected to see again. But something about him is different — wrong. And what's with these strange enemy Digimon that keep changing shape?
1. Chapter 1

**Millennium**

Summary: Two years after a mission to the Digital World that ended in tragedy, the surviving Tamers receive a visitor they never expected to see again. But something about him is different — wrong. And what's with these strange enemy Digimon that keep changing shape? [Ryo/Rika, Jeri/Takato]

A/N: This thing's been in my head since I rewatched the third season a while ago. I've only ever watched the English dub, so the story will use that canon, including ages and names. The story is set five years after the events of season three. Also, this story will feature some references to the Wonderswan games, but those references will not necessarily be game canon-compliant (and the show doesn't match up with the game canon, anyway).

Cheers!

* * *

By now, Takato was used to never getting a full night's sleep. Ever since he'd started working for Hypnos, he'd been busy, but for the past month or so, his pager went off at least three times a night. The rogue Digimon never bothered to show up at a reasonable time, either — it was always somewhere between two and four a.m., and they spaced themselves out so nicely that he had to wake up for another one just as soon as he drifted off again.

But it was a dream job, really. Except without any actual dreaming. Or sleep.

With a strange, hissing cry, the anomaly lashed out with a dark limb. It had been a wing a second ago, but now it was a hand that ended in sharp, deadly claws.

Takato dodged the limb and swiped a Speed modify card at the same time. A red and white blur zoomed past him, knocking the thing over with a headbutt. The blur and the anomaly circled each other for a few seconds, exchanging blows, until the blur caught the anomaly by the neck and discharged a fire blast into its chest.

The anomaly twitched, went still, and then dissolved into data.

Takato sighed and slipped the Speed card back into his deck. The red and white blur slowed down and became a red and white dinosaur, still growling at the place where the anomaly had been seconds before. Its growls were interrupted by a huge, jaw-cracking yawn.

"Nice work, buddy. Now let's get—"

Groaning, Takato looked down as his Digivice sounded another alarm. Another anomaly. This was all too weird — the anomalies had been fairly quiet the past couple years, one popping up every now and then, but nothing like five years ago. Hypnos had almost dismissed the matter as just another normal evolution taking place in the Digital World.

Now, about a month ago, they'd started showing up again. A lot. And that couldn't mean anything good.

"Takatomon, why are you making that noise? Are you hungry? Can we go get some bread? And doughnuts? It's almost morning — we could get the tastiest ones."

Takato, despite his fatigue, smiled. This is why it was a dream job — he had Guilmon back, and as long as he was careful, he wouldn't have to say goodbye again.

"Nah, buddy, just another anomaly." He sighed. "I was so looking forward to a few more hours' sleep…"

"Digimon?" Guilmon asked. He sniffed the air, and his hackles rose as he growled. "It's strong, Takato."

"Yeah, I'd better page Henry and Kazu," Takato said, punching in both of their numbers. They were on-call tonight, just like him.

The streets were quiet, nearly empty. Five years ago, right after the D-Reaper was destroyed, there had been a period of peace. No Digimon wreaking havoc on the city, no rogue program trying to delete everything. People celebrated in the streets for days before things went back to normal. Even after Takato found the new portal that linked the real world to the digital one, there wasn't much crossing over between the worlds — just the Tamers visiting their Digimon every now and then.

But then things started to change. Digimon started crossing back over again. They could never stay for long — the effects of Juggernaut still remained, for the most part, although some Digimon started to show a resistance to it, began to be able to stay longer. After studying the Digimon resistant to Juggernaut, the Tamers had programmed their partner Digimon to have the same resistance, only stronger, strong enough for them to stay in the real world indefinitely. That was one good thing that had come out of all of this.

Even with Hypnos' rebirth, it became more dangerous to stay out. These Digimon were a type that Hypnos was still trying to figure out, and they liked to show up at night. Nothing just materialized out of nowhere anymore — they needed to use portals — but these new anomalies could hack into large systems, like security systems, and enter the real world by using those networks as portals. The programmers at Hypnos had yet to find a solution, other than to tell people to leave their properties unsecured, which didn't work very well.

Even though the United Nations had long since ordered Hypnos to shut down all known two-way portals between the real and digital worlds, the anomalies kept finding their way in — which was made worse by the fact that no one, still, knew exactly what they wanted.

No matter what they wanted, the Tamers were all too familiar with these new, anomalous Digimon and what chaos they could wreak. They'd first encountered them two years ago, back when everything went wrong.

* * *

 _Up above, the sky of the Digital World roiled a violent orange and red. The Digimon — or whatever they were — kept pouring out of a rift in the sky like rain, falling down to the ground in ever-increasing numbers. Whatever was creating them was behind that rift, but the Tamers couldn't get close, not with hundreds of these weird enemies blocking their way._

 _One of the enemy digimon — dark, its shape constantly shifting — swiped at Gallantmon's chest. He gasped and dropped to one knee, swiping up with his modified lance just in time to pierce the creature's neck and scatter it into data. But its blow still stung. He wasn't sure how much of this all of them could take._

 _They'd been fighting these anomalous Digimon for weeks — they kept spawning all over the Digital World, and it was only recently that they found this, the source. But the anomalies were extra-dangerous — they could leach the data from a Digimon, so any Digimon that was beset by even a few of them would be reduced to data in seconds. They were hard to pin down, too — it was difficult to land a blow when they kept shifting shape._

 _Next to him, Justimon leapt into the air, knocked three of the Digimon down in quick succession. He landed next to Gallantmon._

" _We have to do something about that rift. We can't keep this up."_

" _I know. But how can we get through them all?"_

" _The same way we always do," Megagargomon said cheerfully, "By using excessive force and ignoring our impending doom!"_

" _He has a point, actually," Justimon said. "We can't keep knocking them down one by one. We won't ever keep up, and they'll overpower us."_

" _So what do we do?"_

 _Gallantmon thought for a minute, but he was interrupted by Sakuyamon, who floated by Justimon's shoulder._

" _You know what we must do, Justimon."_

" _I do," he said. "Are you up for it?"_

" _Wait!" Gallantmon said. "You can't! You'll be too weakened afterward. They'll destroy you. If you don't destroy yourselves."_

" _As long as we destroy whatever's in that rift, it'll be worth it," Justimon said. "And we didn't destroy ourselves when we were fighting the D-Reaper. We're even stronger now."_

" _You know very well that the Digital World cannot handle much more of this," Sakuyamon added. "And our current approach is not working."_

 _Gallantmon hoisted himself up and slashed through another couple anomalies. Their forms went out of focus and then scattered into data. It was and wasn't like the D-Reaper program — the creatures absorbed the data instead of deleting it. That much the Tamers and Hypnos, back home, had been able to determine. But as for where the data went — that was the mystery. The Digimon themselves didn't seem to keep it since they didn't get any stronger after absorbing data. But it had to go somewhere._

 _Panting, Gallantmon looked over at Megagargomon. "Back me up, Megagargomon! We can't let them do this!"_

 _But Megagargomon remained silent._

" _He knows we must do this. For all we know, that rift is where the data goes. We have to stop them from feeding it." Sakuyamon said. She and Justimon exchanged a look and then began fighting their way up, toward the rift._

" _Well, just try not to die, you idiots!" Gallantmon yelled, frustrated, as he stomped another anomaly to data. "Please," he added to himself, earnestly, as he watched them both go. The past few weeks had been incredibly dangerous, and it brought back all the trauma from the D-Reaper battle five years ago, back when he wasn't sure any of them would survive._

 _The biomerged Digimon and the other Tamers redoubled their efforts, doing their best to support Sakuyamon and Justimon as they rose toward the rift. Near the opening of the rift, Sakuyamon lent her power to Justimon, whose blade shone even brighter than the sickly-neon sky._

 _With a cry, Justimon charged right into the rift._

 _For a second, it seemed as if all the air had been sucked out of the world. Then, with a horrible thundering sound, the rift began trembling, and the sky changed from orange and red to a blinding white. A high-pitched sound grew louder and louder until everything went dark._

 _When Gallantmon and the others came to, the sky was back to normal — no sickly colors, no rift or horrible vortex. The anomalies had disappeared._

 _But so had Justimon and Sakuyamon._

 _The Tamers searched the surrounding area for days, but they never found Rika, Ryo, Renamon, or Cyberdramon. They expanded their search, fighting smaller amounts of remaining anomalies along the way, but they never found even so much as a reborn Digiegg._

 _By that time, they didn't have much hope, but Takato secretly wondered if the four — or at least Rika and Ryo — had somehow been transported back to the real world and would be waiting for them._

 _When they'd made no headway about finding out what might have been behind the anomalies' creation — and since no more massive rifts had appeared — the Tamers and their Digimon returned home to Hypnos, to go over what they knew so far and make a plan. But neither Rika nor Ryo were waiting for them. And soon after, the United Nations ordered Hypnos to close every known portal._

 _As the weeks passed with no news of either Tamer or their Digimon, the surviving Tamers' hopes of seeing their friends again dwindled into nothing._

 _They were gone._

* * *

Guilmon's growling had simmered to a low rumble, which meant the anomaly was near. Takato pulled out a few modify cards and scanned the area. The compass on his Digivice was swinging wildly in a circle.

"Come out, come out, little Digimon," Takato muttered. "Well, actually, probably not so little. But hey, a guy can dream."

Suddenly, Guilmon rushed forward, making a straight line for a medical office's front courtyard. But then, just as suddenly, he stopped.

"Guilmon, what's wrong?"

Then Takato heard it — a human voice. Male.

That's just great. If he'd been woken up just because some guy was messing around with Digimon he couldn't control…Takato understood why someone would want a Digimon partner — just look at Guilmon! He'd never had a better friend — but a lot of these wanna-be Tamers ended up seriously injured, if not dead. And it made even more work for Hypnos.

Takato walked up next to Guilmon. They exchanged a look and then moved closer to the courtyard. Takato could see the guy now — his silhouette was outlined by the medical office's security light. There was another, much larger, figure standing next to him.

Nothing was out of control — they were having a conversation. Takato paused. If it wasn't a wanna-be Tamer or an anomaly, what was going on?

Lost in uncertainty, and sleep-deprivation, Takato jumped when Henry and Kazu sidled up next to him.

"Morning, Takato," Kazu yawned right in Takato's ear as he jumped.

"Geez, guys, give a guy a little warning," Takato whispered. "I'm half-asleep here."

"So where's the anomaly?" Henry asked. Terriermon was in his usual spot, perched on Henry's head. Henry had tried to stop the practice, determining it 'undignified' for a senior Hypnos employee, but Terriermon refused to stop. If anything, he demanded more head-riding privileges.

Takato nodded to the courtyard up ahead. "There. But I don't think it's an anomaly. There's a man in there."

"One of ours?"

"No," Takato said.

"He smells funny," Guilmon added.

"So it's just some weirdo hanging out with a Digimon he programmed? Okay, let's go back to bed now," Kazu said.

"Just some weirdo!" Guardromon echoed.

Henry sighed. "You know we can't do that. We have to check it out."

The three looked at one another and then moved forward carefully, their Digimon partners close by. They were cautious, but they didn't bother trying to sneak — it was impossible with Guardromon, anyway.

As they got closer, it became clear that the man and Digimon were waiting for them. Both were still silhouetted, but the man was leaning casually against the courtyard wall. He gave a little wave.

"Well hey. Been a while. Or has it? The timeline tends to fluctuate a little now," the man said. His partner Digimon growled, which was the closest it got to saying hello.

Takato was too stunned to say or do anything. He could tell the others must have been feeling the same way. The silence stretched on eerily.

Just when the silence had stretched too long to be comfortable, Kazu whooped and ran forward, laughing. "What the hell, man! I knew you couldn't really be dead! Holy shit!"

Ryo laughed. "Nice to see you too, Kazu. Guardromon."


	2. Chapter 2

Kazu was, predictably, making a fool of himself.

"Ryo! Ryo. Okay. You gotta tell me — if you had to pick, what would you say is _the most_ badass thing you've done the past couple years? No, no wait — let me guess. Destroyed a handful of megas all on your own? Oh, oh wait — did you find a way to Digivolve again? Like some Super Mega level or something? All alone in the Digital World for two years — you _have_ to have some great war stories! Wait 'til I tell Kenta what he missed while he was snoozing like a dumbass."

Throughout all of this, Ryo listened patiently as he and Cyberdramon walked with the other Tamers back to Hypnos. He looked more embarrassed than anything else and denied Kazu's overflowing praise. Just like old times.

"Once a fanboy, always a fanboy," Takato muttered to himself. Meanwhile, he was emailing Yamaki to explain that the anomaly had actually been Ryo and Cyberdramon.

"Takato," Guilmon whispered.

Takato looked down at Guilmon, who was clinging to his hip as he walked. "What is it, boy?"

Guilmon peeked around Takato to take a quick glance at Cyberdramon and then ducked back. "He's still scary." His nostrils flared, and he let out a low growl of nervousness.

Takato rolled his eyes and just patted Guilmon's head reassuringly.

"Guilmon, geez, get a grip," Terriermon said from his perch on Henry's head.

"You're pretty brave up there, Terriermon. Be nice," Henry said. Then he turned to look at Ryo. "So. What happened?"

Silence fell over the group. The bluntness of Henry's question caught them all off guard, although they all wanted to know what he would say. Ryo kept walking, staring ahead, and for a minute Takato thought he wasn't going to answer. But it was a huge question to ask, really. And they all knew what Henry was really asking.

Ryo took a deep breath and stared off at some distant point. "I'll tell you the most important stuff. Rika and Renamon are alive." At this piece of news, the Tamers exchanged stunned looks while the Digimon whooped. "We've been fighting the enemy but haven't been able to get back to the real world for years now."

Takato noticed, for the first time, that Ryo looked almost exactly the same as when he'd disappeared. They'd all aged only two years, of course — which really wasn't that much time — but Ryo's unchanged appearance was unsettling in a way Takato couldn't quite pin down. "Right now, I can't focus enough to tell you everything," Ryo continued, "I need to get to Hypnos."

"Yeah, why is that?" Kazu asked, breaking out of the shock first. "Gotta top secret mission for us?"

Ryo shook his head with a little smile. "No secret. You'll like this one, though, Kazu. I need to get to Hypnos to find Rika."

Kazu groaned. "Look, I'm happy she's alive and all, but do we really have to invite Miss Grumpypants back into the group?" It was a halfhearted jab. Even Kazu was obviously relieved that Rika and Renamon had survived.

"Find Rika? I thought you said you two had been fighting together?" Henry asked, frowning.

Ryo nodded. "That was true up until yesterday, when something snatched her back into the real world and I lost contact. At first I thought…" he looked down at his hands absentmindedly. "But it seems like it worked all right," he finished quietly, as if to himself. "I need to find her, make sure."

"Eh, this is Rika we're talking about," Kazu said, putting his hand behind his head and making an airy gesture. Guardromon tried a similar gesture but ended up hitting Terriermon off Henry's head. "She's probably already beaten 'em all to a pulp and made them apologize for existing."

"Hey, watch where you're swinging those things around, Guardromon!" Terriermon yelled as he picked himself off the ground with a huff.

"What's 'something,' anyway?" Takato asked.

"Hmm?" Ryo said, looking away from Terriermon whacking Guardromon in the head _(See how you like it)!_

"What took Rika? And why send her back here?"

"It was the enemy. As for why…" Ryo shrugged. "I have a couple theories, nothing certain. I'll explain what I can when we're inside Hypnos."

They turned a corner, and Hypnos loomed before them, its towers some of the only structures in the area still fully lit-up. The group was quiet the rest of the way. Ryo definitely seemed unfocused — he almost walked straight into the front doors, and when he grabbed the handle, Takato noticed his hands shaking a little. Cyberdramon could have just been his normal growly self, but even he seemed a little twitchier.

Nothing much had changed about Hypnos since the last time Ryo had been there, so he made his way easily enough with the rest of the group. Up the elevators, up to Yamaki's office.

"Are you sure he'll still be here?" Ryo asked as they walked down the hall. Takato hadn't checked the time in a while, but Ryo had a point — it had to be early morning by now.

"Are you kidding? Yamaki's practically a robot. I bet he just plugs himself into the wall each night, good to go in an hour," Kazu said, followed by a huge yawn. "I mean, seriously, I bet the guy's never even had a girlfriend."

"Have you ever had a girlfriend, Kazu?" Guardromon asked cheerfully.

Kazu shot a dark look at Guardromon and mumbled something to himself, kicking at the floor.

Sure enough, the lights in Yamaki's office were still on, and as they got closer they noticed him standing behind his desk.

Takato leaned in the doorway and knocked on the frame. "Yamaki, sir?"

Yamaki was focusing intently on reading something on his computer screen. He motioned impatiently for Takato to come in. "Yes, Takato, what is it?"

When they walked in and Yamaki still hadn't noticed Ryo or Cyberdramon, Kazu leaned forward and mouthed to Takato: _See?_ _Robot._

Takato cleared his throat and gestured toward Ryo and Cyberdramon, who were still lingering in the doorway. "Yamaki, sir."

Yamaki's head snapped up. He looked quickly between Ryo and Cyberdramon and then, to everyone's surprise, pulled out his charge gun and aimed it at Ryo. "Who the hell are you?"

* * *

Jeri was having a bad night.

She'd had the dream: the one where the D-Reaper was inside her brain again, forcing her deep into a place of isolation, forcing her to watch through a window as her friends got on fine without her, smiled and laughed, even, because they were free of her burdens. Leomon's ghost was there too, saying over and over again that he would be alive if he'd never met her.

It was hard to escape, even after all this time.

Jeri shifted her legs so she was a little more comfortable. She liked sitting out here in the old hideout, even though the place was associated with memories that brought pain, too. The portal was long since closed, but Jeri felt most connected to her old life here. That brief, unbelievable time.

Absentmindedly, she turned the yellow Digivice over and over in her hands. The screen was still static — it always would be — but just holding it soothed her sometimes. She pretended she could hear Leomon.

It wasn't all bad, now. In fact, her life was mostly good. After graduating, she got a decent job at a tech company. She wasn't one of the most famous Tamers, but even her involvement with the Digimon, and the programming skills she taught herself, carried some clout with certain people. She even earned enough to rent her first little apartment. It wasn't much, but it gave her space from her dad, and from the Tamers when she needed it.

She just didn't want to be there right now.

What she wanted was to talk to Takato. He'd been her most loyal friend through everything — endlessly patient and compassionate, funny in his dorky way when she needed cheering up.

Jeri frowned. She knew he was on-call tonight, and with the way things had been going lately, he was probably busy chasing down some anomaly. She didn't want to show up during a fight and be a dangerous distraction. And if he was home, she didn't want to wake him up. He'd been so tired lately.

After a minute, she slipped her Digivice back into her pocket and stood up, brushing dirt off her legs. She'd go to Hypnos. If Takato was awake, and not currently involved in a battle, then he'd be there. Yamaki knew her; he wouldn't mind.

* * *

"Woah, woah, Yamaki," Kazu said, stepping in front of Ryo and holding his hands up. "You seriously gotta get some sleep and chill out. This is _Ryo_. _Ryo_ _Akiyama?_ The guy who's basically the son you never had?"

"Get out of the way, Shioda. Now," Yamaki said. "That is an _order_." Kazu refused to move.

"Takato, I thought you said you emailed him and explained?" Henry said, looking tensely between Kazu and Yamaki, who had yet to lower his weapon.

"I did," Takato said. He looked at Guilmon uncertainly. Guilmon could get a little anxious sometimes, that was true, but it wasn't like Guilmon to be afraid of a friend, even if that friend was a massively powerful, frightening-looking Digimon. His heart sank. "Guys, maybe we were a little too quick to bring him here."

"What are you talking about?" Kazu yelled. "Ryo gets killed working for Hypnos and suddenly he's not allowed back here when he's not dead anymore? Well, I mean, you know what I mean."

"Maybe that's not Ryo," Henry said, more certainly. He grabbed his deck as Terriermon jumped down from his head, ready to fight.

"Did you fools ever think," Yamaki said, not tearing his eyes from Ryo, "about how there would be no feasible way for a human to cross back into the real world without a portal?"

"But he said Rika was here, too," Takato said. "They must have found some old program, like the Ark." But now he was uncertain. He'd taken for granted that his friends could get through anything, no matter how implausible.

"Yamaki," Ryo said, his face showing only shock and disbelief. "Mitsuo. It's _me_. You have to believe me."

"I don't."

"I fought against the D-Reaper four years ago," Ryo continued. "I fought with Cyberdramon, biomerged to Justimon. You let me live in the apartments here so I wouldn't have to go back with my father. After a bad fight with a Dragomon, you took me to the hospital, and they had to stitch up my arm," he said, pulling back one of his sleeves to show a shiny scar. Next to him, Cyberdramon gave what might have been a confirmation growl; his claws twitched.

"Information that anyone with the right skills could access," Yamaki said. Without further warning, he shot the charge gun at Cyberdramon, who had suddenly lunged at Yamaki. Cyberdramon roared as the shot ricocheted through him and scrambled his data, effectively paralyzing him for a few seconds.

At the same time, Ryo hooked an arm around Kazu's neck and dragged him off to the side so his back was against a wall.

A low, inhuman laugh came from Ryo's mouth, which had stretched grotesquely wide and grown much sharper teeth.

"You humans continue to surprise me. To me, you look alike as rats in nest, but it seems my likeness was imperfect to you," the thing said. "Alas." The rest of its Ryo guise dissolved — hands became dark, hooked claws; human face features stretched into something more aqualine, with red eyes.

Just as Henry was about to swipe a Speed card for Terriermon, the thing shook its free claw back and forth.

"Ah, ah, ah," it said tauntingly, increasing its grip on Kazu's neck. "It is my understanding that humans need to breathe to survive, yes?" Kazu gasped against the increased pressure and tried to pull the thing's arms away. "Pity if I were to crush your friend's windpipe."

"And pity if I were to shoot this scumbag," Yamaki countered, pointing his charge gun at the still-twitching Cyberdramon — whose form had also started to slip into something less defined.

"Your guns cannot kill us," the thing said, almost boredly. "Do not pretend with me."

Its voice was maddening. Takato was reminded, horribly, of the time when the D-Reaper had possessed Jeri. Her voice had the same echoing, off-putting sound. This thing sounded like a possessed, distorted Ryo. "What do you want?" he said, as much as he didn't want the thing to speak again.

"I already told you," it said. "On the way here. Where is the one called Rika?" It looked pointedly at Yamaki.

"I have no idea what you're talking about," Yamaki said. "Like I said, there's no way a human could cross over without a portal. Anyway, she's dead. Lost, two years ago." He glanced sideways at the Cyberdramon thing, which was starting to recover. He couldn't afford to shoot it again, not with the other thing holding Kazu captive.

"Oh, she's here," the thing said lazily. "Go ahead, look for her Digivice signal." It motioned toward Yamaki's computer. When he hesitated, it continued, "You must find her for me, or this one pays for his stupidity." The claw closest to Kazu's throat lengthened ominously.

Yamaki kicked the desk in frustration. The computer wobbled. "This is lunacy!" he said, snarling. "I'll prove to you that she's not here, if you want. But how can we be sure that you won't harm _him_ afterward?"

The thing smiled. "Like I said: rats in a nest. What do I care for this one?"

Takato frowned. It was probably the closest thing to a guarantee they were going to get from this anomalous Digimon, but he was still on edge. What could they possibly do in this situation? It was easy to blame Kazu for being an impulsive hero-worshipper, but it was just as much Takato's fault. He should have paid more attention to Guilmon earlier.

"Good, good," the thing said as Yamaki began typing at his computer. "Now tell me: where is she?"

By now, the other Digimon had recovered from the charge shot and was standing on six spider-like feet, noticeably agitated. It scuttled over to where Yamaki was typing and stood close by, watching.

After a minute, Yamaki exchanged a quick, unreadable glance with Takato. "I'm getting a read on her Digivice," he said. "I should be able to give you GPS coordinates in a moment."

Takato had no idea what Yamaki was doing — did he have a plan, or was he just giving in? What were they going to do? Next to him, Henry and Terriermon were tense, waiting for the slightest opportunity to act.

But there was one good thing — Rika _was_ really alive, it seemed. Her Digivice couldn't have walked its way here on its own. They just had to make sure neither of these things found her and changed that.

* * *

Like usual, Hypnos was lit-up and awake even at four a.m.

Jeri hadn't realized it was that late, but that might work out better for her, anyway — if Takato was at this point of his shift, it was more likely he'd be back at Hypnos instead of out or at home.

She let herself in with the passcode that Yamaki had given her. It didn't give her much access — she had to be with one of the Tamers to get to most places in the building — but it would at least let her into the main lobby, where she could call up.

The main lobby was deserted since the first receptionist didn't start his shift for another couple hours or so. A few security lights were left on, and the phone on the front desk was available for making calls.

Jeri walked over to the desk and was about to call up when her Digivice started letting out a high-pitched whine.

Jeri froze. She pulled out her Digivice, heart hammering. The screen was still just static, but the high whine continued.

She'd figured this out a while ago. The Digivice, practically useless as it was most of the time, still warned her when Digimon were present. She wasn't sure why — maybe some lingering program, maybe (she thought, more whimsically) some parting protection from Leomon. But this wasn't the gentle buzz it let out when Guilmon or Terriermon were near — this was an unfamiliar Digimon. And it was strong.

Grimly, Jeri tucked the Digivice back in her pocket and headed toward the elevator. Technically, she wasn't supposed to know the elevator codes, but she'd gone with Takato so many times that she'd seen him enter them over and over. She'd never breach Yamaki's trust like this normally, but she was pretty sure that something wasn't right. She typed in the latest code she'd seen Takato use and hoped it hadn't been changed.

The up arrow blinked white, and the sleek metal doors slid open. Jeri stepped inside and pressed the floor for Yamaki's office. There was no way she was staying in that lobby by herself, and she had to tell him what her Digivice had reported, immediately. If there was a rogue Digimon wandering Hypnos, he'd need to know, especially if none of the Tamers were here right now.

As the elevator slid up, Jeri patted her pockets and pulled out a few small items. She curled her fist tightly around them. Ever since the anomalies started popping up again, she never went out alone without a few defenses. After a second's hesitation, she pressed the button for the floor below Yamaki's office. The pinging elevator would draw attention; she could be quieter on the stairs.

With her other hand, she reached into her pocket and turned off her Digivice so it stopped making the noise. When it was on, she felt some kind of connection to her old friend. But it wouldn't help her now. Leomon had taught her to be brave, not stupid.

* * *

A/N: Thanks to those of you who are reading! I'm having fun tracking that little traffic graph. And to those of you who reviewed/favorited/followed — you are my shining stars, the salt in my chocolate milk.

Anon: Ryo/Rika FOREVER, as well — don't worry, that stuff will show up soonish.

Guest: Thanks! I hope, indeed, to make this a wild ride. Several twists and turns coming up soon.

Cheers


	3. Chapter 3

Jeri moved as quickly and quietly as she could up the stairs, taking care not to step too heavily. When she got to the landing, she moved over to the door and turned the handle slowly, silently thanking the janitorial staff for not letting the hinges get squeaky.

Her heart was pounding, and she took a moment to breathe and let herself calm down. It had been a while since she'd had an adventure. Maybe she was making this all up, and Yamaki would dismiss her warning as nothing but the imaginings of a bored girl.

But she didn't think so. Some instinct told her there was danger.

After slipping through the door, she shut it behind her with the smallest 'click' she could manage. She looked around. Nothing out of the ordinary about the hallway — the security lights were all on, and she could see light pouring from Yamaki's office around the corner.

She heard noises, though — an inhuman voice, dark and distorted.

Jeri shivered and clenched her fist tighter. It sounded like the D-Reaper. Was it possible they hadn't defeated all of it? Had some lingering part come back for revenge? She couldn't do this — she couldn't willingly give herself back over to that thing. She squeezed her eyes shut.

Her arms were shaking. She opened her eyes. Angrily, Jeri dug her fingernails into her arm until the pain distracted her from the fear. No. She would not be a coward. She would not be useless.

With new determination, Jeri snuck down the hallway toward the light, toward Yamaki's office. She'd need to get closer to form a plan.

Takato let out a muffled scream in the back of his throat. He felt useless. Here he was, with a deck full of modify cards and his partner Digimon at his side, and he couldn't do anything. Not if he wanted Kazu to come out of this mess whole. How had they managed to mess this up so badly? Yamaki was right — they'd been fools.

"You're stalling," the Digimon holding Kazu said. To make its intent clear, it pressed its claw a little harder against Kazu's neck; one drop of blood oozed down and soaked into his shirt collar.

At the computer, Yamaki hurriedly typed a few commands. "There," he said. "I've downloaded the map and coordinates that will show you where the Digivice signal is coming from. You can upload it from here." He pointed to a port in the side of the computer.

The two Digimon exchanged a look, and then a thin cord emerged from the spidery Digimon's chest. The cord snaked over to the port and connected; after a few seconds, the cord retracted.

"I know where she is," the spidery Digimon said.

"Good," the other said. But it didn't change its grip on Kazu. "You've been _so_ helpful. Now—"

"Wait," the other Digimon said, its voice strangely slowed down. "Something is wrong..." Its feet skittered on the floor, as if it were losing its balance.

The other Digimon hissed at Yamaki. "You _dare_ —"

But whatever it had been about to say was interrupted by a flash of light from the hallway and an electrical buzzing — the Digimon was twitching on the ground, its data scrambled, its grip on Kazu broken.

"Who... _Jeri_?" Takato said, momentarily stunned.

Jeri burst into the room, another charge bomb clenched in her hand. "Get _away_ from him!" she said, raising her hand threateningly at the fallen Digimon.

Taking quick gasps of air, Kazu stumbled over to Guardromon, who pulled Kazu behind him with one arm and fired a Guardian Barrage at his captor with the other.

Takato and Henry had jumped into action. Both had swiped Power cards, and a powered-up Guilmon and Terriermon took one Digimon each.

"Pyro Sphere!"

"Bunny Blast!"

The spidery Digimon wasn't faring very well — one of Terriermon's Bunny Blasts sent it crashing against the wall; its data flickered.

The other one was just recovering from the charge bomb, though, and morphed out of the way to avoid Guilmon's attack.

But in doing that it moved right into the path of Jeri's thrown charge bomb. Her bomb struck it in the chest, incapacitating it.

"Nice shot, Jeri!" Takato said. He was worried about her being here—what was she _doing_ here, anyway?—but it wasn't like they had time to have a heartfelt discussion about it right now. Might as well cheer her on. "Guilmon, get him!"

Guilmon fired a Pyro Sphere at the fallen Digimon, although it didn't seem to do much damage.

Instead, the fallen Digimon seemed more concerned with the spidery Digimon. It looked over at the weakened thing and let out an enraged shriek. Avoiding another of Guilmon's attacks, it forced itself to move and climbed along the wall to the other side of the room, where the spidery Digimon had just suffered another blow from Terriermon.

"Guilmon, Speed activate!" Takato said, swiping the modify card. He couldn't let Terriermon take both of them on, even if one was damaged. Guilmon rushed over to the battle, firing off a Pyro Sphere at the damaged one.

At the same time, Henry yelled, "No, _no!_ Terriermon, don't let it get near the other one!"

Too late, Takato realized what was happening. The Pyro Sphere hit the damaged Digimon. Its partner then sent a long, spiky limb straight into its center, which caused the Digimon to burst apart into scattered data. But the other Digimon had gotten close enough, and it was absorbing the data.

Yamaki was firing charge shots at the Digimon, but it bent and shaped its body to avoid the shots as it scuttled along the wall.

"Guardromon, guard the door!" Kazu yelled.

"Right-o!" The huge robot Digimon clanked over to the door and took a fighting stance. "Guarding's in the family name, after all."

At the same time, Henry yelled, "Terriermon, Expansion activate!" He swiped a modify card.

"Woaaaah!" Terriermon began inflating like a balloon, filling the space and trapping the enemy Digimon against the walls.

But the Digimon morphed itself down into a thin, snake-like thing, squeezing past Terriermon and heading for the door.

Guilmon tried to chase after it but had to run to the other side of the room to avoid Terriermon's expanding body.

"Kazu, Guardromon, watch out!" Takato yelled.

"Guardian Barrage!" Guardromon fired at the Digimon, missing just by inches.

With a battle cry, Kazu closed his eyes and lunged at the thing on the floor, grabbing at its thin tail.

"Kazu!" Henry and Takato yelled, in unison.

Kazu opened one eye and looked, incredulously, down at his hands — he'd managed grabbed the thing's tail. It seemed just as shocked as he was. "Huh. I can't believe that _worked_."

The thing hissed and pulled itself free from Kazu's grip, but not before Guardromon had managed to hit the trapped thing dead-on with a Guardian Barrage. Guilmon, who had finally made his way over, also hit it with a Pyro Sphere. Kazu shielded his eyes and scrambled to his feet.

"No!" the thing yelled, its data beginning to flicker. With the last of its strength, it slithered back into the center of the room, toward Yamaki's desk — where it disappeared into the computer with a crackle of data.

For a minute, everything was still, except for Terriermon slowly bobbing around the room as he tried to deflate.

"Did...did we get it?" Kazu asked.

"No," Henry said curtly. After a few misses, he managed to catch Terriermon and hold him still as he shrunk back down to normal.

"Jeri…" Takato said, taking a step toward her. One of her hands was clenched in her pocket. She was staring at the computer.

"Whose signal is that?" she said quietly.

"We have to go!" Yamaki snapped, holstering his charge gun and strapping another weapon to his arm. "Don't all of you realize what just happened?"

"Yeah," Kazu said, frowning and brushing off his shirt. "Creepy demon-Ryo got away. But we can't do anything about it now. It could be back in the Digital World for all we know."

"It has the coordinates," Henry said to Kazu, letting go of Terriermon now that he was back to normal. "You know how these things are. It downloaded them when it absorbed the other's data."

"Oh." Kazu said. "Well, shit."

"Come on," Yamaki said. He moved toward the door.

"Where are we going?" Jeri asked. "Whose signal is that? Is it—"

"You're not going anywhere," Yamaki said, slapping his arm across the doorway and stopping her from walking through. "In fact, you shouldn't even be here. Go home."

"I did better than you against that Digimon," she said angrily. "With just two charge bombs. Give me a weapon. I can help."

"It's too dangerous without a partner, Jeri," Takato said, beseechingly. "We don't want you to get hurt." Next to him, Guilmon made an uncomfortable noise.

"He's right." Yamaki said. He lowered his arm and gestured the others toward the door. "Come _on_. We don't have time for this."

Silently, the Tamers and their Digimon ran after Yamaki. Takato looked at Jeri and started to say something.

"Go on," she said coldly. "I don't want to be in your way."

The others were already sprinting down the hall.

"It's Rika," he said quickly. "Maybe? Hopefully? I'm not sure, to be honest."

Jeri remained impassive.

With a last look at her and a frustrated sigh, Takato and Guilmon sprinted after Yamaki and the others.

* * *

Working security wasn't the same gig it used to be. Used to be, a guy signed up to work security at a company like this, that meant a few hours of peaceful alone time and exercise. Sure, sometimes it got boring — the same utilitarian hallways can only be so interesting after a while — but it was quiet, you didn't have to talk to anybody, and the pay was decent. There was usually no action.

Until a couple months ago.

Now, Tanaka was always on edge. A couple of his buddies had gotten injured or just quit after weird monsters started popping out of the walls. He'd heard the official report — some kind of digital beings that used the building's security network as an access point. When one of Tanaka's coworkers asked why they didn't just shut off the security system, their boss said that's exactly what the attackers wanted them to do, and they would not cower under such tactics. Except no one knew how to fight back at the things. You couldn't exactly detain them.

Not long after, they realized the monsters showed up only at night. Guess which shifts Tanaka worked.

Tanaka should have gotten out then. Maybe it still wasn't too late — he could transfer to another city, maybe. Or at least ask for a raise.

Tanaka sighed. Suzuki had warned him weeks ago. Why hadn't he paid more attention? Suzuki had been one of the first ones to encounter the monsters. He'd been patrolling the first floor when there was a buzzing noise and then a monster with three heads popped out of the wall. He'd gotten away, luckily — the monster had left the building almost immediately. But the day after, he quit, moved away a week later. Tanaka had thought he was crazy — _too_ _many_ night shifts, _too_ _much_ of not talking to other people, it did something to ya — but, wow, would he apologize to Suzuki if he ever saw him again.

Tanaka moved quietly down the third floor hallway. His flashlight swept the walls, floor, and ceiling — he was looking for anything that looked slightly out of place. Couldn't be too careful, with freaking _alien monsters_ coming out of the walls.

Just a couple more hours until his shift was over. He could handle that, right? The next day he'd talk to his boss, say he needed more money or he was out. Maybe this would all be worth it if he could get a decent chunk of cash, cite excessive endangerment or something.

Tanaka was practicing the conversation in his head — the boss was always a lot more reasonable in his imagination — when he heard something.

He stiffened, swept his flashlight slowly over the floor as he strained his ears. Not on this floor. One down. Or maybe on the stairs.

That was it. He could hear the voices echoing in the stairwell. As he walked closer to the stairs, he let out a sigh of relief. His tense body relaxed. Whoever was in there, those were _human_ voices. Young-ish, from what he could tell. Probably just some kids messing around.

Just before opening the door, Tanaka paused. Something about the conversation seemed a little off. He pressed his ear to the door and listened. It didn't seem like they were going anywhere in a hurry.

"Who are you? Or _what_ are you, I guess," A woman's voice. "Besides a total creepshow, I mean."

A man laughed. "What do you mean, Pumpkin? It's _me_."

Tanaka shuddered. He didn't know why, but he didn't like that guy's voice.

"You really don't know a thing about me if you thought _this_ would fool me. Now, answer my question."

"If you'll answer mine. Tell me — can the change be reversed? You must have figured out something by now. Isn't that why you're here? To go back to your little human family? Ah yes, what were their names...Rumi—"

There was an angry yell and an echoing thud — something had been thrown against the wall.

Tanaka straightened up, frowning. Okay, there was something weird going on here, but he couldn't let someone get hurt or killed in his building while he was on duty.

Taking a steadying breath, he threw open the door and pointed his flashlight at the two figures. "Hey! You're not authorized to be here. Leave now or—" But Tanaka didn't finish his sentence. He was distracted by the monster.

There were two people arguing — a young woman with cropped red hair and a young man whose clothes looked worse for the wear; most of his left sleeve was ripped off. Maybe that was because the young man had been trapped against the wall by a yellow fox monster.

Tanaka gaped. Not knowing what else to do, he screamed and threw his flashlight at the fox monster. "NOT TODAY, ALIEN!"

The fox blinked in surprise as his missile bounced harmlessly off her chest and clattered down the stairs, its bouncing light making weird shadows on the walls. But while the monster was distracted, the young man wrestled free.

Except, the young man seemed less...human than before. Most humans couldn't grow extra arms.

Next thing he knew, Tanaka was being pushed back into the hallway by the young woman. "Way to go, you idiot. Now _run_ before you get yourself killed," she said, rolling her eyes as she slammed the door in his face.

Tanaka stood in the hallway, stupefied for a moment. When he heard roars and what sounded like explosions coming from the stairwell, he bolted as fast as he could down the hallway in the opposite direction, almost tripping over his own feet. Nope nope _nope_ _nope_ _nope nope nope_.

Definitely not worth it. He was getting on a train _right_ _now_ and never looking back.

* * *

A/N: But was it worth it to _you_ , dear readers? Tell me what you think — what just happened? What's going to happen? Is Rika in danger? Will Tanaka ever find love?

(No. He won't. He served his purpose. He's dead to you now.)

And to those who reviewed last time—

zigmas: Yes, that was my dastardly plan all along, but as you can see I've given in to your demands.

Lord Darth Yoda: What, indeed? More hints about what the imposter wants in the next chapters, although there's a small clue in this one. And maybe not the hero moment you were picturing, but yes — Jeri's gonna have a few hero moments, if I have anything to say about it.

anon: Soon! I promise.

'Til next time!


	4. Chapter 4

Takato felt like he couldn't run fast enough.

To be fair, he and Guilmon had been up for most of the night. It was perfectly reasonable for him to be tired and for Guilmon to be gasping for air, pathetically, as he trailed behind.

But when a weirdly powerful enemy Digimon was hunting down one of his friends — a friend he had, until very recently, given up for dead — everything seemed too slow. They _had_ to find her. _Now_.

Even as he ran with the others down dark streets, following Yamaki's brusque directions, Takato couldn't help but wonder what they were going to find. After all, Yamaki had been right — there was no possible way for a human to pass between the real and digital worlds right now. Not without a portal. And unless Rika had opened one up somewhere, there's a possibility that the Rika they found would be the same kind of thing as the imposter Ryo.

But he couldn't think about that.

Really, he couldn't. His brain felt half-dead already. Freaking evil Digimon messing up his sleep.

"How much further, Yamaki?" Henry yelled.

Yamaki gave a sharp nod, gesturing to a building up ahead. "There. Third building on the right-hand side. Some kind of department store."

Takato saw it — the windows were plastered with bright, cartoonish signs advertising sales and new items. Mannequins modeled sheer dresses and large, ostentatious hats. And there was _so_ _much_ _pink_.

Takato couldn't help but grin. Rika sure would be grumpy that she ended up here, of all places.

As they reached the building, Yamaki held up a hand for them to wait while he inspected the outside. He sidled up to the windows, peered inside, checked the doors and windows for any sign of damage.

Next to him, Takato heard Kazu let out a whimper.

Takato looked around sharply, expecting to see the enemy Digimon. "What is it, Kazu? Did you see that weird Digimon?"

Kazu shook his head and shuddered. "Nah, man. It's just... _mannequins_ ," he said, pointing a shaking finger at one of the window displays.

Takato smacked his forehead. Henry rolled his eyes.

But then Yamaki was gesturing them forward.

"Everything seems alright on this floor. But that doesn't mean you shouldn't be careful once we're in," he said, checking his weapons.

"And you're sure she's here?" Kazu asked skeptically. "I mean...not really her style, is it?"

"She's here. Or," Yamaki added. "Her Digivice signal was. I assume I don't need to tell you that the likelihood of actually finding Rika Nonaka as you knew her is very slim."

The Tamers looked at one another grimly. None of them had wanted to admit it out loud, but what Takato had said to Jeri was true — they just weren't sure what they were going to find.

"Okay," Yamaki said, after disabling the door's security alarm. "Let's go in. Stay alert. Don't let anything fool you."

* * *

Rika wasn't fooled even for a second.

Sure, she'd been taken aback at first — even though she knew right away it wasn't actually Ryo, it was still a weird thing to see. Like a younger Ryo had stepped right out of the past. Which wouldn't have been entirely out of the question, given what was going on.

But she knew Ryo. Among other things, he had a kind of irritating humble-hero thing going on that this Digimon just couldn't copy. Besides the obvious age difference, everything about _this_ Ryo was slightly...off.

It was creepy. And annoying.

At least by now the Digimon had given up its guise. Mostly. Now it was a dark mass of limbs, climbing all over the wall as it tried to dodge Renamon's Diamond Storm.

Rika frowned. She didn't want to _destroy_ it without getting more information, but she couldn't let it get away. Not when it was threatening her family.

"Just give up!" she yelled. "You're weak, and Renamon and I are getting impatient."

Renamon gave a cry and lunged for the Digimon, who moved out of the way just in time.

"We don't have to fight. We can talk, like equals," it said to Renamon in between gasps as it ran from Renamon. It tried to escape out the stairwell door, but Renamon blocked it.

"You threatened Rika's family," Renamon said quietly. "And we are _not_ equals." She kicked it hard in the stomach, knocking it down the stairs.

The thing sneered at her. "And you're equals with _her_? Do you even get a title? Digimon Princess? Royal Pet?"

Renamon answered with another Diamond Storm and then landed on top of the Digimon, her foot pressing down on its neck.

"Easy, now. You're working for him, aren't you?" she said. "Tell us where he is."

The thing let out a disturbing laugh. "I don't know. I vowed not to return to him until I'd achieved my goal."

"Bullshit," Rika said, "Tell us the truth."

Renamon paused and then let out a sigh. "I think it _is_ , Rika."

"So this goal of yours," Rika said. "Trying to become human, or at least something with a biological form. Why?"

The Digimon just laughed again, which turned into a choking noise as Renamon pressed down harder. It muttered a few words in between gasps.

"What was that, weirdo?" Rika said, stepping a little closer.

It looked her dead in the eye and grinned. "Long live the queen."

Suddenly, its body glowed white-hot. Renamon cried out and jumped back, one arm around Rika, but it was too late — the thing seemed to implode in a burst of hot energy that blew both her and Rika back and blew out one of the stairwell walls.

When the dust cleared, Rika, Renamon, and the imposter had disappeared.

* * *

Takato jumped when the building rumbled and shook.

"Was...was that...?"

They all looked at one another and then rushed down the hallway toward the stairs. The sound had come from above.

"Be careful," Yamaki yelled, "The structural integrity of the building might have been compromised in the explosion."

But they rushed up the stairs anyway. And, as it turned out, they didn't have any problems — until they came to landing that was completely blocked by rubble. Off to the side, a gaping hole in the wall showed the sun finally coming up over the city skyline.

"Don't let your guard down," Yamaki said, pulling out his charge gun and cautiously moving toward the rubble.

Takato coughed and pulled his shirt over his nose — there was still so much dust in the air.

Henry nudged him in the side. "Hey, look over there. Is that debris settling, or...?"

Takato looked where Henry was pointing. In a corner, a pile of crumbled debris looked like it was shifting. A moment later, a large piece clearly moved out of the way with the help of two familiar yellow arms.

"Renamon!" the Tamers shouted and scrambled forward as fast as they could. Yamaki kept to the side, his weapon pointed firmly at the debris.

When they got to the pile, Guardromon and Guilmon worked together to help Renamon move pieces off the pile. After a few moments of straining — and a couple Power cards, courtesy of Takato and Kazu — the debris had shifted enough to let Renamon out.

But not a moment after she'd pulled free, she turned back around and pulled out a smaller, unconscious body.

"Renamon. Is that really Rika?" Kazu said quietly.

Takato, himself, couldn't figure out how to speak. There'd just been too much happening in the past few hours. He'd been sure they wouldn't actually find Rika — that it'd be some kind of trick.

But Guilmon had already run up to Renamon and was hugging her around the leg — something he wouldn't do if he'd sensed Renamon was an imposter, like the not-Cyberdramon from earlier this night.

And Renamon was holding Rika — at least, someone who might be Rika. At the moment, she was covered in dirt from the explosion, so it was hard to make out fine details. But underneath that, it sure seemed like her. Just a little older. And it looked like most of her hair was gone, cropped close to her head.

"Please," Renamon said, looking directly at him. "Don't…" but then she collapsed to her knees.

Luckily, Guilmon was already there. He took her weight on his back and lowered her slowly to the floor. He waved his claw in front of Renamon's face. "Takatomon, she went to sleep."

"I'm surprised she was still conscious at all," Henry said, rushing forward. He checked Renamon and Rika's vitals. "I think they'll be okay, but we need to get Rika to a hospital. She won't recover like Renamon will."

"Out of the question," Yamaki said. "We still haven't determined whether these two are—"

"Sir," Takato said, interrupting. "No offense, but Guilmon's better at that sort of thing than us. And he says they're the real deal."

Guilmon nodded vigorously.

"Then why didn't he catch the imposters before? I—"

"He did," Takato said curtly, but looking away. "I just...didn't catch on. It was my fault they got into Hypnos."

Yamaki frowned and started to say something.

"Look," Kazu said, helping Henry lift Renamon and Rika into Guardromon's arms. "Yelling at Takato is great and all, but how about we get to the hospital and argue while the doctors stop Rika from dying, okay?"

"And what about…?" Henry said, trailing off and gesturing to the destruction.

Yamaki sighed. He holstered his charge gun and pulled out his cell phone. "Go," he said. "I'll meet you later."

* * *

Jeri stood for a few moments in Yamaki's office, not moving.

She pulled her Digivice out of her pocket and turned it back on. The static buzzed in its familiar, quiet way. She gripped the Digivice in her palms so furiously that she thought she might break it.

How _dare_ they. After all this time, after everything she'd been through…

She was still a Tamer, even if Leomon was gone. And she would not be brushed aside. So they wouldn't accept her without a partner. Fine.

Jeri put the Digivice back in her pocket and walked over to Yamaki's computer. A few years ago, she would have been mystified by what to do next and all her resolutions would have dwindled away with the first tap on the keyboard.

But not now. She was smart. She'd worked hard to teach herself as many programming languages as she could, and she'd never stopped, even after landing her job.

Yamaki had nothing on her.

After a few minutes of searching, Jeri found what she needed: the rogue Tamer files. It was just like Takato had said, back when all this stuff first started.

" _So what are these guys up to?" Jeri asked as she set her and Takato's drinks down on a little table outside the cafe. It was the first time she'd been able to see him in two weeks since things had suddenly picked up at Hypnos. He didn't look that great, honestly — but even with the bags under his eyes, he still had that indomitable Takato energy. It was nice to be around him._

 _Takato slumped down in his chair and grabbed his iced coffee, gulping down a third of it with a satisfied sigh. "The wannabe Tamers?"_

" _Yeah," Jeri said, adjusting her chair to be closer to the table and leaning in. Even though the world knew about Digimon now, it still felt like a government secret any time they talked about something Hypnos-related. "What are they trying to do?"_

 _Takato shrugged. "I mean, I don't know. Just people obsessed with Digimon who don't really get how strong they are, I guess."_

" _So they're not trying to...organize, or anything?"_

 _Takato shook his head. "Nah. There's no pattern. Some of them know each other, but it's just, you know, two buddies trying the same crazy thing. A lot of them are card players, but that's just because most of them are huge Digimon fans, in general."_

 _Jeri smiled. "They just want their own Guilmon."_

 _Takato smiled back. "Yeah, can't blame them there. But why can't they ever design something_ less _dangerous? What's wrong with a nice little Tokomon?"_

 _Jeri laughed. "Well, I'm just amazed they're successful at all. I know you designed Guilmon, but you had a Digivice. None of them do, right?"_

 _Takato shook his head. "Nah, that seems a little beyond them, for some reason. The Digivices must be more complex than we realize. That's part of the reason why the Digimon get out of control — there's nothing binding them to their "Tamer." And I guess it's not too weird to think that people could create them — Digimon started out as a computer program. When it became public knowledge, it didn't take long for some people to connect the dots."_

 _Jeri thought for a second. "But it was a lot simpler at the start. It's really possible to create a complex Digimon, just like Guilmon, out of code?"_

" _Well, not_ just _like Guilmon. No other being could have that kind of bottomless appetite for peanut butter," Takato said, winking. "But yeah. The created Digimon we've had to deal with so far have been decently powerful, Rookie or even Champion level. It's possible. Unfortunately," Takato said, sighing, and then gulped down another third of his coffee._

Jeri ran their conversation over in her mind as she scanned the files on Yamaki's computer. These were all the wannabe Tamers who had been caught thus far — thankfully, Yamaki insisted on detailed notes, so the information included everything down to the rogue Tamers' height and eye color. After bypassing a few security measures, Jeri could find out what Digimon they created, even the specific code they'd used. Some had been more successful than others — a lot of them had created hazardous, unstable Digimon. But a few had gotten really close — and a couple of those had managed to create Champion-level Digimon, just like Takato had said.

The sound of a door shutting downstairs made Jeri jump in her seat. It was probably just an employee coming in for the early shift, but Yamaki and the others might be back soon. She couldn't let them catch her studying Yamaki's files.

Jeri dug in her pocket and pulled out her keys. One of the keyrings was attached to a small, retractable memory stick. Jeri plugged it into the USB drive and downloaded the most important files. She briefly wondered if Yamaki would be able to tell someone had been digging around, but that didn't matter in the short run. They'd know what she'd done soon enough anyway.

Jeri ejected the memory stick and then did her best to make the computer display look exactly as it had been before — the GPS map with Rika's coordinates. Jeri stared at it for a moment. What if it were true? What if Rika…?

She shook her head and stood up to go home. She'd learned not to give in to false hope. Dead people stayed dead.

Except, well, maybe not this time.

Jeri smiled and clutched the little memory stick to her chest.

* * *

"Dude, stop _pacing_. You're driving me crazy," Kazu said, throwing a crumpled-up chip bag at Takato. Takato stopped for a second, then continued walking up and down a row of chairs in the waiting room.

Mechanically, his head clearly in another place, Henry picked up the chip bag and threw it in the trash can.

"Sorry, I'm just worried. I mean, I understand the "family only" thing, but we're pretty much family, right? Why can't we see her?" Takato said, doing another lap beside the line of chairs.

"They said she'd probably need surgery," Henry said quietly, "Sounds pretty serious."

"Eh, surgery smurgery," Kazu said. "They really don't get how stubborn Rika is if they think _this_ is going to slow her down. She's probably gonna rip her IV out any minute and come stomping down the hall to yell at us." But even his cavalier attitude was a little forced.

"But they wouldn't even let Renamon stay with her," Takato said, looking down the hall to Rika's room. "Even if she's still out of it, too." The yellow fox was currently laid across few chairs that had been pushed together. It was hard to not do anything for her other than that, but it wasn't like the hospital had any resources to help her. And her breathing was steady.

"Renamon will be up and at 'em soon," Terriermon said confidently. "Digimon recover a lot more quickly than you meatbags."

Takato stopped pacing and noticed, for the first time, how much attention they were attracting. It made sense, of course — even though most people knew about Digimon now, it was still startling when a giant robot, a weird rabbit-thing, and a red dinosaur just wandered into a hospital. Especially given the amount of recent, rogue Digimon attacks. The good thing about the D-Reaper incident was the amount of news coverage meant the Tamers' Digimon were pretty recognizable.

Still. The stares never really went away.

"Hey, look! What did I tell ya?" Terriermon said.

Takato and the others looked over to see Terriermon jumping up and down around Renamon. The fox Digimon let out a low groan and sat up, putting a hand to her head.

"Renamon!" the Tamers said, rushing over to her.

She shook her head and scanned her surroundings, frowning. "Where...Are we in a hospital?"

"Yeah, Guardromon brought you and Rika here. She was pretty banged up," Kazu said.

Renamon stood up suddenly. "What? You brought Rika here? Where is she?"

Henry nodded down the hall. "Getting prepped for surgery soon, we think."

Renamon seemed more panicked than relieved by this news. "No! I said not to—"

At that moment, the lights flickered off. There was some concerned shuffling from the staff, and some panicked gasps from others in the waiting room, but then the lights flickered and finally buzzed back on.

The Tamers and their Digimon stood stock-still.

"What just happened?" Takato said, looking at the others. "What if that thing came back?"

"Oh, come on," Kazu said. "It's probably nothing. We're just…"

They heard raised voices down the hall, some kind of disturbance near Rika's room.

"...paranoid?" Kazu finished.

Without further argument, they rushed down the hall, ignoring the hospital staff's protests. None of the staff was particularly comfortable with grabbing at the Digimon to stop them, anyway.

A man was standing outside Rika's room, arguing with a nurse who was blocking Rika's door. Something about him was vaguely familiar, although Takato couldn't quite place where he'd seen the guy before.

Then, it hit him.

He looked a few years older — nothing like the imposter's version of him, really — but the battle-worn, dark clothing, the proud stature, the hair Rika always made fun of. It _had_ to be. Right?

"Sir, like I said before, only family are allowed to visit her right now. She's scheduled—"

"Well, I _am_ family," the man said. His voice was low but urgent. "Listen, I'm...her husband."

* * *

A/N: WOAH. First they come back from the dead and now they're secret-married? And Jeri's being all sneaky with Hypnos data? WHAT is going on?

Lord Darth Yoda: Yes! I love Jeri. The others are gonna recognize her badassery whether they like it or not. And you're on the right track with Rika — wonder if this chapter gave you any more hints.

Anon: From this point on, there's Ryo/Rika togetherness all. the. time. Enjoy!

To those of you who are reading but not reviewing — pop your head in! Tell me what you think! Always fun to feel connected to readers.

'Til next time, friends.


	5. Chapter 5

Really, all things considered, the situation _could_ have been worse.

Nothing had followed him here. Check. He hadn't died on the way through, and neither had Rika. Check. He didn't seem to be getting pulled back to the Digital World. Check. He couldn't say, for sure, that the same was true for Rika — she'd been here a little longer than he had — but he had a hunch that wasn't what had sent her to the hospital. Check...pending.

That's not to say Ryo was especially happy with this little stumbling block, but he'd emerged through the hospital's security system soon enough that they hadn't taken Rika into surgery yet. As long as he got her out of here, everything would be all right.

And they were _here_. They got through. So far, so good.

Well, except for the fact that this nurse blocking Rika's door was giving him the most skeptical, disdainful look she could manage.

"Neither of her emergency contacts on file listed a spouse," she said. He noticed her scrutinizing his left hand — no ring. Her frown deepened.

To be fair, Ryo understood why she was giving him the stink eye. He really did. In the midst of blinking lights and panic, he had kind of popped out of nowhere, dressed in tattered clothing and generally looking like he'd just passed through a war zone. Good thing he didn't have any observable weapons on him. Normally, he'd appreciate the hospital's strict security — he really, truly would — if it wasn't keeping him from the one person he desperately needed to see.

"Ah, well, it's a fairly recent development," Maybe? He wasn't even really sure how long it'd been, "Newlyweds, you know? Runaway love and all that," he said and flashed her his most dazzling smile. Years of warfare aside, he knew he could still throw on the charm when needed. Except when it came to Rika — she was never impressed by it.

Apparently the nurse wasn't, either.

Ryo sighed. Last resort it was, then. He started lifting up his shirt.

The nurse raised her hand in alarm. "S-sir! What are you—" But then she saw what was on his chest.

Ryo pulled his shirt back down and tapped his chest. "She has one too, right? Right here. It's what we did instead of rings." Well, that wasn't _technically_ a lie. Sort of. "Please let me see her."

The nurse gave him a final, searching look before nodding and stepping out of the way.

At this moment, of course, Renamon appeared right behind Ryo. She looked a little worse for the wear, but she seemed to be recovering quickly. Seeing her made Ryo feel better immediately. And that meant Rika was probably okay.

Ryo looked at the nurse as he walked by and jerked his thumb back toward Renamon. "She's coming in, too. Service animal," he said cheerily.

Renamon shot him a look but just rolled her eyes and followed him past the stunned nurse into Rika's room.

* * *

"So let me get this straight. Ryo and Cyberdramon came back to the real world."

Kazu nodded.

"But they weren't really our friends. They were some weird shapeshifting Digimon who were trying to figure out where Rika and Renamon were. For some reason. Probably a not-so-nice reason."

Kazu nodded.

"And they were _actually_ Rika and Renamon, not imposters, but they got attacked by something and you found them under a pile of rubble before bringing them here."

Kazu nodded.

"And Ryo — the real Ryo, maybe? — just got to go into Rika's room because he said he was her _husband_. And the nurse let him through because he lifted up his shirt."

Kazu nodded.

Kenta sighed and leaned back into his chair in the waiting room. "Oh man, I can't _believe_ it."

"I know," Kazu said. "I mean, Ryo's a good-looking guy and all, but really? He just flashes his abs and suddenly it's a-okay to throw security protocols out the window."

Kenta groaned and ran his hand through his hair. "I wasn't talking about that part! Although, to be fair, that's pretty weird — maybe Ryo got some killer abs fighting Digimon all these years. I wonder if he'd teach us how — no, _no_ , what I meant was that I always miss all the cool stuff! Why didn't you wake me up?"

"Sorry, Kenta, you weren't on call," Takato said, walking back and slumping into his seat. "The nurse is definitely not letting us in now. I think Renamon spooked her."

"So it was Renamon who spooked her? Not our dead friend who has previously proved himself, might I add, to be an evil shapeshifting Digimon?" Kazu said.

"It really was him," Takato said quietly. "Especially compared to that other thing. It's him. Somehow they're both alive."

"And Renamon, too," Terriermon piped up. "Although Scary McScaryface doesn't seem to be around."

The group fell quiet for a minute.

"What do you think she meant?" Henry said. "When Renamon said we shouldn't have taken Rika to the hospital. What was that about?"

Kenta sulked. "Well, it's not like I would know. Nobody tells me anything until the action's already happened." MarineAngemon popped its pink head out of Kenta's jacket and blew a little love bubble at his head, as if to console him.

"So...do we just wait?" Takato said.

"Let's say we wait ten minutes," Henry said. "Then, if nothing's happened, we—"

"Blast our way through the security staff, kick down the door, and steal Rika out of here!" Kazu said, punching the air. Guardromon tried a high kick but toppled over into a trash can. Luckily, most of the other people in the waiting room had already given the group a wide berth.

"Or," Henry said patiently. "We could call Yamaki, see if he can get us some kind of government clearance."

Kazu crossed his arms. "Boring. But whatever."

Takato nodded and looked down the hall, toward Rika's room. What was going on?

* * *

By the time Ryo and Renamon got into the room and closed the door behind them, Rika was already grumbling and ripping out her IV. When she looked up and saw them, she paused and her shoulders relaxed a little — she seemed especially relieved when she saw that Renamon was walking around, nearly healthy.

Rika smiled at her Digimon friend. "Renamon..." Renamon merely nodded and turned to guard the door. They didn't have to say anything else to communicate how glad they were to see each other.

Then Rika shot a glare at Ryo. "Oh, look who it is, my _husband_." Even in a paper hospital gown, she still managed to look as fierce as a hellcat.

Ryo grinned. He sauntered over to the bed and sat down on the far end. "Hello, Pumpkin."

Rika's glare deepened. She tossed the bedcovers at Ryo and swung her legs over the side. "My mom and grandma are my emergency contacts," she said.

"And?" Ryo prompted.

" _And_ ," Rika said, "What do you think their reaction is going to be when the hospital calls them to tell them not only that their previously-thought-dead daughter was found severely injured and is going into surgery, but also that _my husband_ _is here with me_."

"Oh." Ryo paused, thinking. "Huh. Hadn't thought of that." He stood up and wandered over to the computer monitor in the corner. "But the nurse wouldn't let me in to see you. And it's not like I was going to let them try to do surgery on you and then ship you off to some government lab." He began typing and pulled up the program containing patient charts. A few quick searches and he found Rika's chart, easily. Then he got to work.

Rika muttered something that sounded like _I'll ship_ you _off to a government lab_ while she unclipped herself from the heart monitor.

She plucked at her paper gown in disgust and scanned the room. "What are you doing here, anyway? I thought one of us was going to stay behind. And what are you smiling at?"

"Monodramon has things under control," Ryo said, patting the Digivice clipped to his belt. He looked over at her. Involuntarily, his hand moved to rest on his sternum. "You...went out...for a second. I got worried something went wrong."

She was right though — even though she was clearly a little mad at him (but what about that was unusual, really?), Ryo felt himself unable to stop grinning. Being apart just a short time had made him miss her fiercely. "As for why I'm smiling…"

Rika rolled her eyes. "Nevermind. Don't wanna know. Where are my clothes?" She got up and searched the room, opening drawers and looking through everything in the adjacent bathroom.

Ryo finished his work and leaned back in his chair, staring at a line of skin showing through the back of Rika's paper gown. "I don't know, I kind of like this look on you."

Rika snapped around to look at him. He waggled his eyebrows at her. He could tell she was trying hard to stay mad at him, but she let out a little laugh despite herself. "Perv," she said, throwing a box of latex gloves at his head. "Renamon," she said, "would you try to find my clothes?"

"Of course, Rika," the Digimon said, nodding as she walked over to stand next to her. "If nothing else, I'll find you something to gag this one's mouth." She flicked her tail in Ryo's face, muttering, "Service animal, indeed," as she disappeared.

"So what are you up to here?" Rika said, walking over and putting a hand on the back of Ryo's chair.

"Well," Ryo said, "according to the hospital's records, a surgery patient named Rika Nonaka was never admitted. As you can see, however, a Ms. Ruki Makino matching your physical description was admitted with a severe allergic reaction and was discharged with a prescription for Prednisone. It seems she won an argument and her head swelled to nearly twice its size. Tragic."

"Huh. What was she allergic to? Smelly hero-boys?" Rika said, ruffling Ryo's hair with her hand. A little cloud of dust puffed up from his head.

Ryo caught Rika's hand in his own and winked at her. "You're right. Could probably use a shower. And apparently you could, too," he said, wiping the back of her smudged hand with his thumb.

But then Renamon popped back into the room, a bag in her hand.

"Here, Rika," Renamon said, handing Rika the bag. "I may have startled a nurse. Or three."

"Thanks, Renamon. No worries, we'll be out of here soon," Rika said, breaking Ryo's grip. She walked over to her Digimon and took the bag from her. Her name was printed on a label on the outside of the bag. She tore it off and crumpled it up. "How are you feeling? You got hit with that blast, too."

"Almost recovered now," Renamon said.

At the same time, Ryo swiveled around and said, "Blast? What blast?"

Rika stripped off the hospital gown, threw it in the trash, and pulled out her own clothes. "A Yearmon. But a weird one — it could keep a solid shape." She wiggled the rest of the way into her jeans and turned her attention to Ryo. "Your shape, actually."

Ryo raised his eyebrows. "Me?"

Rika nodded and pulled her shirt over her head. "Old you. Or, young you, I guess. Like right before we got taken into that rift. It was creepy."

"Didn't have my sophisticated charm and wit, huh?"

Rika smirked. "It was probably less creepy that way, actually."

"We can discuss this later," Renamon interrupted from her place by the door. She was watching the outside hallway through the small window in the door. "It won't be long before someone enters this room. We should be gone by then."

Ryo and Rika shared a look. Ryo glanced one last time at the computer monitor to make sure everything was set. At the door, Renamon looked back and gave them both a nod of confirmation — the coast was clear.

Ryo stood up and swung his arm around Rika's shoulders.

"All right, Ruki. Let's get your swollen head out of here."

* * *

Henry had just pulled his phone out to call Yamaki when Ryo, Rika, and Renamon walked into the waiting room.

Rika waved at them with a casual _Hey_ as if she hadn't been severely injured just minutes ago. And as if it was normal that Ryo Akiyama's arm was slung around her shoulders.

The Tamers and Digimon stood there, frozen in shock, as the three made their way over. Takato blinked a couple times to make sure he wasn't hallucinating. As sure as he'd been that he'd seen Ryo walk into Rika's room, it was another thing entirely to actually be looking him in the face. And Rika. And Renamon.

Kazu looked at Ryo, aghast. "Dude, what are you _doing_?"

Suddenly, all the Tamers and Digimon started talking at once. At the same time, Guilmon scrambled forward and gave all three a big hug around the legs, nearly knocking them all over.

" _Shut it._ "

The hubbub stopped as quickly as it started. Guilmon dropped to the floor, his mouth open. Everyone looked at Rika, who was giving them all a death glare. When she had their attention, her expression softened, but her voice still had the same calm urgency and authority. "Listen, we know this is a lot—"

" _We?_ " Kazu choked out.

"—but how about we get out of the very populated, very public space before we start screaming at one another."

With that, she, Ryo, and Renamon walked toward the exit, taking care to avoid eye contact with the other people in the hospital as much as possible.

The Tamers looked at one another dumbly for a second and then moved to follow them. Takato noticed that some of the people in the waiting room were visibly relieved to see their group go. He couldn't blame them. No matter how many times he tried to explain it to Guilmon, the dinosaur didn't understand why strangers might be freaked out if he ran up to them and tried to give them a friendship hug. He'd given out at least two friendship hugs while they'd been in the waiting room. At least if Guilmon had given anyone a heart attack, they would have been in the right place.

When they stepped outside, the morning sun was burning pink and orange. Takato blinked. His eyes felt scratchy. But there was no way he could go to sleep right now, even if he wanted to. He had so many questions, and he figured Rika, Ryo, and Renamon might have just as many questions for them.

But they'd been serious about getting out of the public eye. The three kept up their brisk, quiet pace well after they'd gotten clear of the hospital doors. And despite the fact that Rika and Renamon basically had a building fall on them not even an hour ago, and Ryo had clearly been through some kind of battle, they were speeding ahead. It was enough work for the other Tamers to keep up, let alone try to ask any questions. Any time Kazu tried to shout out a question, Rika just glared at him over her shoulder, and he shut up.

At first, Takato had assumed they were going back to Hypnos — they seemed to be heading that direction. But then Rika and Ryo made a few different turns, and it was clear they weren't heading there anymore. Takato started to get uneasy and shared a look with Henry — what if they were wrong, and their friends were still imposters, leading them into a trap? — but after they started walking through the park, he knew where they were going.

Takato smiled. Up ahead, there was the old hideout, the first good place he'd found to hide Guilmon. Immediately following the D-Reaper incident, this place had become a kind of shrine for Takato. He'd left Digimon cards, peanut butter bread, anything he could think of in memory of his lost Digimon partner. And then, one day, the portal had lit up, and he'd been able to see Guilmon again. Even though the portal was closed now, it was still a special place to him — a place that represented impossible hopes and reunions. And literal tons of bread.

So Takato thought it was kind of sweet that Rika and Ryo brought them here, inside the old hideout. Although, it quickly became clear that neither of them had chosen the spot for sentimental reasons.

"No security systems here," Ryo said, leaning against one of the concrete walls. "So no surprises, hopefully."

"You know about that?" Henry said, taking a spot on the wall opposite from Ryo.

Ryo nodded. "We knew the Yearmon were escaping into the real world somehow, but it was only very recently that we figured out how."

"Yearmon?" Takato said. He was standing next to Henry — he figured if he sat down he might pass out. He pulled out his Digivice absentmindedly and inspected it. The Digivice had never been able to identify the strange Digimon before.

"Yeah," Rika said. From her spot next to Ryo, she was watching Takato. "That wouldn't have helped you, Gogglehead. They technically don't exist yet."

"Don't tell _me_ they don't exist," Terriermon said. "Those creepy things have given me more bruises than—"

"Wait. _Wait._ "

Startled, everyone looked over at Kenta, who was standing in the doorway, as if unsure what to do with himself. "Why is everybody moving on to the next topic of conversation like this situation is _totally normal_ ," he said, gesturing wildly toward Rika, Ryo, and Renamon. MarineAngemon popped his head out and purred his agreement.

"I mean, he has a point," Kazu said, shrugging. "What happened to you guys? We, uh, kind of assumed you had died horribly."

With all of the attention on them, Rika, Ryo, and Renamon looked at one another. Renamon nodded her head at the other two. "Would you two like to begin?"

Rika nodded. She turned to the other Tamers and their Digimon. "Well, do you want the short version or the long version? Let hero-boy here tell it and it'll be three times as long and ten times as dramatic."

Guilmon jumped up and down. "Long version! Long version!" Guardromon copied him — until Kazu stopped him from jumping because the little structure had begun to shake.

Ryo bumped his shoulder against Rika's. "See? Some people _like_ the details."

She rolled her eyes. "Go on, then. But don't think I won't take over if you purple it up too much."

Ryo threw his hands up in mock surrender. Then he turned to the others and began to speak.

* * *

A/N: Poor Kenta. You didn't think I'd forgotten about him, did you?

Thanks for your patience! I was on a trip last week and didn't have much chance to write. I hope all of you are having as much fun reading this story as I'm having writing it. Because I'm having a lot of fun.

anon: Here it is! Hope it was worth the wait.

Guest: Yes, that's the plan — I see them both as strong characters, too. Jeri gets a bad rap sometimes.

mileshuntere: Here you go! Updates should usually be weekly, in the future — this was just a special circumstance.

JealousOfTheClouds: Thank you so much! Yes, I'm excited to develop more of those plot points — I have such plans.

Rainbow35: Thank you! Jeri's going to have a good amount of screentime in this, so stay tuned.

Well, that's it! Thanks for the support — see you back here soon.


	6. Chapter 6 (Two Years Ago)

_Two years ago_

The last thing Ryo remembered before the change was the rift — a massive, pulsing tear in sky from which the shapeshifting Digimon kept pouring out. Sakuyamon's power thrummed through his arm. She, herself, drifted below him, temporarily immobilized from the effort of transferring her strength to him. Far below her, on the ground, the other Tamers and Digimon continued to fight the hordes of enemy Digimon.

Getting close enough to strike the heart of the rift was difficult — the energy emitting from its center pushed against him with a near-physical force. As he got closer to the center, the sounds of the battle below disappeared into a more overwhelming sound. Something like television static, turned up so high he wondered if his head might explode.

Then he was there. Yelling a war cry, he stabbed his blade upward, right in the heart of the rift. He felt his blade sink into the energy there as if it were solid. Shockwaves pulsed up and down his arm — the white static suddenly increased in an explosion of sound. He heard his and Cyberdramon's combined screams as if from far away, and someone else was there too — Renamon and Rika. No! He had to do something, maybe hit them with a blast to knock them back down. Too late. They must have gotten sucked in—

And then, absolute silence.

Everything around him was blank — not white, but an emptiness beyond color or sound. Then he thought that maybe he didn't have eyes anymore, or even a head to put them in — he didn't _feel_ anything. Whatever vague part of him existed now seemed to remember feeling but couldn't actually do it anymore. No hands, no mouth, no anything.

When he tried to think of his name, he couldn't remember it.

He wasn't sure how long he existed in that state — it could have been years or only a fraction of a second. But he remembered exactly when things changed.

All at once, the nothingness burst into a luminescent pattern. Lights of every color sparked through and around him — and there was something else there, too. Someone else. He could feel them.

At first, he didn't know who it was. The feeling was familiar, though. He still didn't seem to have any kind of body, but his sense of self and his memories began to return. It was something like when he and Cyberdramon — there! A name! — biomerged. Both of their consciousnesses melded into one. Their thoughts, feelings, and experiences were simultaneous, twinned. They went through the same triumphs, the same pain.

This was something like that, and completely different. He and this other presence were twinned in a way he could never have imagined experiencing. He knew everything about her — the presence was female, he decided — because he _was_ her. He was part of her, and she was part of him. They didn't just exist in this space — they _were_ this space. She was all dazzling light and color, and so was he. Although he still couldn't feel anything physically, he felt her presence like a kind of comforting electricity flowing all through his mind. They experienced each other's deepest memories and thoughts — or what amounted to memories and thoughts, here. Flashes of light, echoes of emotions like sound. It was the most incredible thing he'd ever experienced.

Gradually, things began to change. The unreal colors sparked out into patches of black and white static. The noise filled his head. Ryo felt his mind becoming separate from the other presence. He struggled against it — he couldn't imagine how he would feel whole, from now on, without that other part of him. It was like his mind was being ripped in two. The static buzzed louder and louder.

Then, he began to feel sick — there was something else here, something besides the other presence he'd been so connected to. It was wrong — dangerous. He felt himself trying to twist away from it, trying to take on a concentrated enough form to get away from it.

At some point, Ryo realized he was holding his hands to his head, and that he was screaming. The fact that he had a mouth to scream with made him immediately stop. He opened his eyes.

It took him a moment to recognize where he was, not just because he was getting used to having a body again, but because the landscape had changed dramatically since he'd last been there.

It was the battlefield under the rift — but the rift in the sky and the enemy Digimon, thankfully, had disappeared. But so had the other Tamers and Digimon. Ryo scanned the area as thoroughly as he could from where he was standing, but there was no sign of his friends.

And they likely hadn't been here in a long while. What had once been a hard, dry landscape pitted with damage from their battle with the strange Digimon had since become a field of long, golden grass. A few scrubby trees dotted the area, and in the distance was the same blue mountain range Ryo remembered from before, what had allowed him to identify the area. Up above, the greenish-blue sky was unblemished, except for a few wisps of cloud.

Ryo looked down at his hands — human hands — and suddenly remembered that he'd been biomerged with Cyberdramon when they'd gone into the rift.

"Cyberdramon! Cyberdramon!" he called out, stepping through the tall grass as quickly as he could. His Digivice was still, miraculously, attached to his belt. He pulled it off and used its radar, trying to see if he could find his Digimon partner. He kept his eyes up, scanning the grasses desperately for any sign of movement or disturbance.

Which was how he found himself tripping on something lying in the grass. Caught off guard, Ryo tottered for a second before falling into the grass with a thud.

The thing he'd tripped on groaned.

Ryo rubbed his head — he wondered if it would ever stop being amazing that he had a _head_ — and looked over at what had tripped up his feet.

A pair of purple eyes glared up at him. "Watch where you're going, Akiyama."

It only took him a second to come back to himself. He grinned at her. "Hey, you're the one lazing around in the grass." He rose to his feet and offered a hand to Rika, who of course ignored it. At least he tried.

Rika frowned as she stood up and took in their surroundings. "Where are we? What happened to the Digimon?" Just like Ryo had done, Rika immediately looked up in the sky, but the rift was still gone. Well, at least there was that. They'd succeeded in some respect, it seemed.

"No clue," Ryo said. "I haven't been able to find Cyberdramon yet. As for the others…" he just shrugged. Given the change in the landscape here, they were probably long gone, back in the real world.

If they'd survived. But he tried not to think about that.

Rika wouldn't look at him. She was staring down at her Digivice's radar, which was swinging around wildly in a circle. "I'm going to find Renamon," she said. Even though her Digivice wasn't being much help, she picked a direction decisively and started walking through the tall grass.

"Wait!" Ryo said, reaching out and catching her arm. "We might as well stick together—"

When he touched her arm, a jolt of energy went through his body, and he recognized what he must have already known at some deeper level. Rika was _her_ — the presence he'd felt so connected to, the one with whom he'd shared that unbelievable, unreal place of light and energy. It was her.

Rika had frozen too. She was staring at him with an unreadable expression. He remembered what it had been like to share a mind — or a soul, or whatever — with her.

What he wouldn't give to know what she was thinking right now.

But Rika snapped out of it and drew her arm back.

"Fine. But keep your hands to yourself," she said. As she walked forward, she rubbed her arm, absentmindedly.

Rika didn't speak to or look at Ryo as they searched for their Digimon, and for once Ryo knew better than to press her. To be honest, he was a little unnerved, too. He had no idea what had happened. And it sure didn't seem like someone was going to pop up and give them an explanation anytime soon. The area was completely quiet except for the wind in the grasses and the two Tamers' calls for their Digimon.

Although the landscape looked different, there was one thing familiar about this version of the Digital World — night came on suddenly, with no warning or transition. One minute, Ryo and Rika were wading through the long, sun-gold grasses, and the next minute a dark blue night sky swallowed all the light.

Rika gave a frustrated sigh and kicked at the grass uselessly. "Just great."

For a minute, Ryo stood still, waiting to see what Rika wanted to do. In the meantime, his eyes adjusted to the lack of light. The sudden night was comforting. He'd spent so much of his life travelling in the Digital World that he preferred this version of nightfall to the slow, agonizing sunsets of the real world. Here, there was no time for indecision or winding down — things happened suddenly, and you became flexible enough to go along with it, or you broke.

So he made a decision and kept walking forward.

"Hey, where are you going?" Rika said.

"To look for our Digimon," Ryo said.

"It's pitch black out, genius. We'll never find them."

"They still have ears, don't they?" Well, in a manner of speaking. "Besides, we don't have any kind of equipment or food, and there's no real shelter here. Might as well keep going," Ryo said. He'd been in this situation many times before — supplies got destroyed, food got stolen, nights came on more quickly than you expected. Sometimes you just had to keep moving. Especially if you'd recently mind-melded with the girl you liked and had no idea what to do with those feelings.

"I guess it isn't too bad once your eyes adjust. Maybe you're right," Rika said reluctantly. She moved forward to catch up with him.

" _What_ was that?" Ryo said, cupping a hand to his ear and leaning toward her. "Say it again for the people in the back."

"Oh, shut up," Rika said, reaching up to smack his hand down. She stopped herself at the last second and drew her hand back. She shoved her hands in her pockets and looked forward.

Other than occasionally consulting (arguing) about which direction to go and calling out for their Digimon, they kept conversation to a minimum.

Just as suddenly as night had come on, daylight burst over the landscape. Ryo and Rika paused, blinking against the harsh light. Even with the sudden brightness, the situation didn't look much better — the landscape was still empty, and despite the progress they'd made at night, they weren't much closer to the mountains than they'd been yesterday.

"Ryo." Rika's voice was quiet, earnest.

Ryo glanced over at Rika, who was looking straight ahead. Her hair's brilliant color in the sudden light was incredible — the fiery red of a dawning sun. Next to that, her pale skin practically glowed. "Hm?" he prompted, trying not to stare at her.

"What if we never find them?"

Ryo looked down at his Digivice screen, which was still spinning uselessly. "We will," he said. "We know they're not gone, or our screens would be static. So we'll find them." He paused and then tried for a little humor. "Whether that's before or after you kill me is another question."

Behold — a small smile. "Sorry for snapping at you. It's just…" Rika trailed off.

"We have no idea what happened to our friends, and up until yesterday we were in some kind of digital limbo for who knows how long. Right?"

Rika looked over at him. "You remember it, too? That...place?"

"Pretty swirling lights? Our bodiless consciousness merging with the infinite? Yeah, I seem to recall something like that."

But Rika was distracted. She looked at him intently, a small frown on her face. "Ryo, what's up with your skin?"

"What are you…" Ryo looked down at his arms. Something seemed off. He pushed his sleeves up and — sure enough — there was something all over his skin. Or, under it, now that he really looked.

He looked back at Rika. That's why it had looked like she was glowing — she _was_ , sort of. A network of colored lights pulsed underneath her skin like veins, like a circuit board. Every inch of visible skin looked the same. The center of her chest was glowing slightly, too, even underneath her layers of clothing.

Better not stare at that area too long, though. He looked down at his own chest and saw the same muffled glow.

By now, Rika had noticed her condition was the same as Ryo's. She was running her hands over her arms, disbelieving. After a minute, she rolled up her pant legs to see that her legs were in the same state.

Unnerving as the new development was, Ryo couldn't help but think how stunning Rika looked in that moment. Like some kind of digital goddess.

"Oh, what the hell is _this_ now," she growled, irritated. " _Why_ are we all sparkly?" She threw her arms up in the air in exasperation before curling them into tight fists at her side. She stomped forward, yelling for Renamon with much more force than before.

Well. At least she'd gotten her determination back.

With one last look at his strange arms, Ryo pulled his sleeves down and followed Rika. Funny — they'd been walking all night, and at least some of the previous day, and Ryo didn't feel tired. That was good, since it didn't seem like their Digimon were anywhere nearby.

In fact, there didn't seem to be any Digimon around at all. Ryo started to wonder if they really were in the Digital World when he realized he'd spoken too soon.

There was a Digimon up ahead, all right. It just didn't look very happy to see them.

* * *

Rika was concentrating so hard on not thinking about — well, just _everything_ — that she barely noticed the Infermon. If it hadn't started charging at them, she might have stomped right past it.

She was _that_ pissed. And this thing wasn't helping.

"Great," she said. "Of course this happens while Renamon's still AWOL. But you know what, buddy? _Bring it on_ ," she yelled at the approaching Digimon. Behind her, she vaguely registered Ryo's startled protest. Whatever. If he was too chicken to fight by himself, that was his problem.

Except it was sort of _her_ problem too because—

No.

Stop. Thinking. About it.

The Infermon was by itself, at least. That was a step up from dealing with hundreds of those weird shapeshifting Digimon at once.

Without any kind of battle plan in mind, Rika ran straight toward the Infermon, Digivice in hand. She pressed the button that activated the Digivice's whip function. That was one thing she had to hand to Ryo — he really knew how to use every tool at his disposal. No wonder he'd been able to handle Cyberdramon. None of them had ever even realized that the Digivice had supplementary powers like the whip until they'd seen him use it to tame Cyberdramon.

The Infermon stretched an arm out lightning-quick, but Rika dodged it just in time and ran around its side. With a cry, she lashed out at the thing's legs with the whip. The blue rope of energy wrapped around two of Infermon's legs, causing it to lose balance and fall to the ground.

Rika smirked. Too easy. These things never seemed to know what to do with all their legs.

"Rika! What do you think you're doing?" Ryo yelled. She turned her head slightly to see him running up next to her, his Digivice ready in his hand. "You know full well that thing is an Ultimate."

"So?" Rika said defiantly. "I've beaten stronger opponents before." She immediately turned her full attention back to Infermon. She really couldn't look at Ryo right now — it was too confusing. Especially when his stupid handsome face was glowing like he was a goddamned angel or something. She knew her skin looked the same, but seriously. What was _up_ with that.

"Yeah, with the help of Renamon. Who, by the way, we should be looking for right now," he said. He was keeping all of his attention on the Infermon, which was starting to struggle its way out of its bonds. "How about we leave the nice Digimon alone and, I don't know, get the hell out of here?"

Rika made a dismissive noise. Deep down, of course, she knew he was right. This was really stupid. She'd learned long ago, in that encounter with IceDevimon, that she was a much weaker fighter without Renamon — _couldn't_ fight without her, for the most part. They made each other so much stronger. But she wanted to fight. It felt good to do something active, something familiar.

She heard Ryo cry out. The Infermon snapped free from Rika's whip and scuttled out of the way when Ryo tried snaring its legs with his own whip. Ryo ran further out, trying to divert its attention so Rika could try again. But no good. It was too fast. Even Ryo's plan to run away wouldn't work unless they could slow it down enough to get away from it.

Automatically, Rika pulled out a modify card and swiped it through her Digivice. "Agumon's Frozen Wind!" It was only after she'd yelled out the command that she realized, of course, Renamon wasn't around to receive the modification. She swore.

But, to her surprise, the Infermon was blasted with a powerful, icy wind. Its limbs creaked as it struggled against the attack, desperately trying one last move, but then it fell to the ground, frozen solid. For now, at least.

"Renamon?" Rika said hopefully as she snapped her attention over to where the attack had come from. Her heart was pounding. She'd missed her friend so fiercely. It was just like Renamon to show up in the nick of time and—

But it wasn't Renamon.

Ryo was looking down at his hands, wonderstruck. His Digivice was still gripped tightly in his right hand, but his left hand glowed with a blue-white power. After a few seconds, it faded away.

"Rika," he said, calmly. "What did you just do to me?"

* * *

A/N: Would you believe I'm so out of touch that I didn't realize you can reply to reviews now? Ah, technology. Anyway, I'll respond to you all using that system instead of writing clunky notes down here.

And as you noticed, this chapter was a flashback. Any chapters like this will have the time stamp at the beginning and in the chapter title itself, in case you ever have a moment of confusion. Present day chapters will just use the default format.

Thanks for stopping by! See ya next time.


	7. Chapter 7 (Two Years Ago)

_Two years ago_

Ryo kept turning his left hand over and over, staring at his fingers as if he'd never seen them before. His skin wasn't even cold. How…?

An ominous creak interrupted his thoughts. Ryo's head snapped up to see the frozen Infermon trying to break out of its icy prison. It was slowly rocking back and forth on its back — Ryo thought he saw a leg twitch. As strong as that thing was, it wouldn't take it very long for it to be mobile again.

"Okay, time to go!" he said, running toward Rika. She was just standing there, gazing sightlessly at the modify card she'd used. Ryo nearly grabbed her as he ran by but then remembered at the last second what touching did to them both. "Come _on_ , Rika, we can figure this out later."

"I'm going, I'm going," Rika grumbled, stuffing the card back in her deck and running after him with one last incredulous look at the frozen Digimon.

After a couple minutes of breakneck running through the field, Rika burst out into wild laughter.

Ryo shot a glance over at her. She'd practically laughed herself to tears already. He'd never seen her laugh this hard. "What's going on over there, Chuckles?" he said between pants as he ran.

Rika had to gasp to catch her breath — both from the running and the hysterical laughter — before she said, "Your...face. _Rika, what did you just do to me?_ " She imitated his voice before erupting into another fit of laughter.

"Oh, real mature, Rika. That doesn't even sound like me."

Behind them, he heard the Infermon roar. It must have broken free from the ice. Fast as they were running, that thing was likely faster. And they didn't even really know where they were going — there weren't any places to hide in this open field.

Rika had gone suspiciously quiet. Ryo looked over to see her grinning evilly at him. And holding a modify card in her hand.

"What are you...No! Rika—"

"Speed activate!"

Suddenly, Ryo felt an unbelievable strength and lightness in his legs. He could run for days! He could run all the way around the world in an hour if he wanted to! With a wild cry, he rushed forward in a burst of speed. It was only after he'd covered an insane amount of distance in a few seconds that he realized he was leaving Rika far behind. He doubled back and jogged in place next to her.

She looked very pleased with herself. Ryo was too energized to care that she'd basically experimented on him without his permission.

"Good," she said, "Now do me."

It was Ryo's turn to laugh hysterically.

"Jeez, are you twelve?" Rika said, rolling her eyes. "Use a Speed card on me. There, better?"

Still with the jittery energy from the Speed card coursing through his limbs, Ryo pulled out his own modify card and swiped it through his Digivice.

Rika let out a whoop and rushed forward in a blur. Ryo quickly caught up. After a few seconds, he chanced a look over his shoulder and found that he couldn't even see the Infermon anymore. It looked like they were going to get away from it, easy.

Their enhanced speed carried them much farther than they ever could have gotten on their own — in a few minutes, they'd nearly closed the gap between them and the blue mountains. Rather than just being a hazy outline on the horizon, the mountains were close enough now that Ryo could pick out details: blue flowers and blue-leaved trees, what looked like a pass running between two of the tallest peaks.

Ryo noticed immediately when the Speed modification stopped working. Instead of zooming past in flashes of color, the surrounding area slowed down into solid detail and texture. His legs felt like he'd suddenly started running in water, like some force was pushing against his muscles, making him work to even take the smallest step. Of course, he was simply walking at a normal pace now; it just seemed painfully slow.

And with the speed went the euphoria that had come with it. Ryo once again felt the weight of their situation press on him — lost without a clear way back to the real world, their Digimon partners missing, their very selves changed in ways they still didn't quite understand. They'd just used _modify_ cards on each other. Like they were Digimon. And it was definitely no fluke, as Rika had proved when she used that Speed card on him — this was a thing they could do now.

In all his travels through the Digital World, Ryo had never heard of anything like this. And, once he thought about it, he could never use a modify card to affect, say, Renamon or Guilmon — only Cyberdramon. So what did it mean that he and Rika could modify each other?

Oh. _Shit_. What if…?

Ryo stopped to catch his breath and looked around for Rika. She was a little bit ahead since her Speed modification had taken effect after his. But she seemed to be waiting for him — she was standing still, at least, taking in the area.

Just to make sure, Ryo looked back over his shoulder once more. The Infermon was definitely not in their sights anymore, but that didn't mean it wouldn't try to find them later. It had likely seen in which direction they'd been running. If they could make it the rest of the way to those mountains, they'd have a better chance.

He moved carefully toward Rika. At least walking was starting to feel sort of normal again.

"Looks like we lost Infermon, for now, but we'd probably better head into the mountains," he said once he'd caught up to her.

Rika was staring off into space. She, too, had stopped laughing. It seemed the combination of the stress of everything they'd gone through and the euphoria of the Speed card had made them both a little hysterical, in the moment. And Ryo knew that he, at least, was finally starting to feel tired and hungry — he must have been running on adrenaline for a long time.

After some time had passed and Rika hadn't responded or made a move, Ryo started to say something — maybe they should just get it over with, talk about this now — but then Rika snapped out of it.

"Let's go, then" she said. She was gripping her Digivice tightly, its radar still spinning in a useless circle.

They both hiked forward without another word. The tall grasses gradually gave way to scrubby undergrowth and the blue-leaved trees Ryo had spotted from before. Compared to the vast openness of the field, the mountains were a relief. At least here, they had places to hide or take shelter. Of course, that meant anything else could be hiding here, too. But other than the Infermon, Ryo hadn't seen any other signs of sentient life.

Thankfully, the mountainside was full of other life — the trees bore a strange purple fruit, which turned out to not be poisonous when Ryo finally plucked one and ate it out of desperation. The fruit was pale blue inside and tasted slightly sour. Even if it had been the most bitter, sour thing to ever exist, Ryo could have eaten twenty. He couldn't remember the last time he'd eaten something so substantial and fresh.

"You know, there's still a chance you'll end up on the ground, frothing at the mouth," Rika said skeptically as she watched him eat a third fruit. She hadn't eaten any. She'd crossed her arms and was observing him closely.

"You don't have to sound so hopeful about it," Ryo said in between bites.

"I'm just saying, it doesn't look like anything else has been eating those."

"Well, it doesn't look like anything lives here at all, except our friend back there," Ryo said, gesturing over his shoulder.

"That's weird, isn't it?"

"Hmm?" Ryo said around a mouthful of juicy fruit.

"Even during the D-Reaper crisis, there were Digimon here, up until the very end. And this place looks in way better shape than it did back then. Where did they all go?"

Ryo swallowed and threw the fruit's pit into the bushes. "I have an idea about that, actually."

"Oh yeah? Which is?"

"Well, think about the Primary Village."

Rika snorted. "Come on, Ryo. That's not part of the real Digital World. That was just something they made up for the show, to make it nicer." She put on a fake cheery smile. "Hey, kids, it's okay! No one really dies!"

"Okay, Ms. Cynic, I know that," he said. "But the principle is true. Digimon are made of data. If they get destroyed, the data has to go somewhere. It doesn't just disappear."

Rika dropped the fake cheery face. "Well, yeah, but usually other Digimon just absorb it."

"Not if there aren't any Digimon around to absorb it."

Rika fell quiet for a few seconds. "So, you think something happened, some disaster that wiped out most of the Digimon."

"It's a possibility. I mean, we don't actually know what happened after we left that battle." 'Left' was not the right verb for what had happened to them, but what else could he say? 'Abducted by a mysterious force?' 'Disintegrated and then miraculously reassembled?'

"Do you think that's why the landscape looks so different? Like maybe some of that data went back to...the earth? Circle of life and all that crap?"

Ryo shrugged. "Maybe. I'm not sure. We still don't really know a lot about how the Digital World works. But if the Digimon aren't here, then their data at least has to be here. It might not be as neat and tidy as a playground full of Digieggs, but it's somewhere."

As they walked further up the mountainside, making a path through the lush trees and undergrowth, Ryo wondered what it would mean if that theory were correct. Was the fruit he was eating, in some way, the digital remains of long-dead Digimon? Was that the reason the former battlefield looked the way it did now, because so many Digimon had lost data there?

Rika growled. Or, rather, her stomach made an amazingly hungry noise.

Ryo smirked and pulled one of the fruits off a low-hanging branch. Data or not, it was all they had to eat right now. Wordlessly, he handed it over to Rika. When she hesitated, he took a small bite out it and then handed it back to her. "See? Not diseased or poisoned or infested with maggots."

"Ugh, thanks a lot," Rika said. "Now I'm _definitely_ not thinking about maggots wriggling around in there." But she took the fruit from him and bit into the other, untouched side.

* * *

When nightfall hit, they set up camp in a small clearing off to the side of the path they'd been walking. 'Camp' wasn't much, since they didn't have supplies. But Rika managed to set up a small fire — crowing the whole time that she couldn't believe the Boy Scout was having so much trouble getting a fire going — and they found water in a creek a short hike away from camp. They didn't want to sleep too closely to the water source, just in case some other living thing had the same idea. By hollowing out a couple of the fruits, they made flimsy cups that could hold at least a couple mouthfuls of water. After a rough couple of days, even their measly camp was more than welcome.

Ryo stretched out his legs so his toes were close to the fire. Even with the Speed card helping him out today, his feet were aching. The warmth was relaxing. He felt his eyelids starting to shut.

On the other side of the fire, Rika was studying her Digivice and her deck of modify cards.

"Do you think we can Digivolve?" she said all of a sudden.

Ryo's eyes snapped open. He looked over at Rika suspiciously. "Oh, no. No more surprise mad scientist stuff."

Rika waved her hand dismissively. "Calm down. It's not like I have a blue card or Calumon anyway."

"Do you think we're Digimon now?" He couldn't help but imagine a Digivolved Rika. She'd probably have guns for arms, maybe actual fire for hair. Eyes that could shoot literal ice.

Rika stared at him. " _I_ don't know. Never really been in this situation before. But…" she said, waving the Speed card at him.

"I know, I know," Ryo said. He paused. He didn't really want to bring up what had been on his mind since earlier that day — well, one of the things — but they probably couldn't avoid it if they were going to decide what their next step would be. "Rika. Renamon and Cyberdramon…"

"We're not going to find them," Rika said, interrupting him. "I know." She clipped her Digivice to her belt and looked over at Ryo, as if daring him to contradict her.

Ryo paused. Then he shook his head. "That's why the radar has been spinning, right? And why we could use modify cards on each other."

Rika nodded. "Yeah, I figured." She bent her head down to put her cards back into her belt. Ryo realized pretty quickly that she was trying to hide her face from view — his nerves were tingling, and he felt a kind of echo in his skin. Sadness. Pain. Anger.

Rika kicked at a log savagely. "This never would have happened if you hadn't tried to be such a hero."

Ryo felt the exhaustion and stress get the better of him. "Oh, so it's my fault? As if I wanted this to happen?"

"Yeah, you've seemed pretty okay with everything so far, actually."

"Listen, I'm trying to make the best of this situation. And at least I'm not the one who used a modify card on you without knowing what would happen."

"As if you had a better plan for getting away from that thing."

"Oh, you mean that Digimon you provoked without having any real way of defending yourself?"

"I didn't provoke it. It was charging right at us. Probably picked up on how pathetic you are without-" To her credit, Rika stopped there. She seemed to realize she'd maybe crossed a line.

But Ryo had enough. He threw his hands up in defeat. "If you want to talk about this and come up with a plan, great. But I'm not just going to sit here and be yelled at."

After a moment's hesitation, Ryo stood up quietly and started walking away from the fire. He was a little mad, but mostly he was just frustrated. What did he have to do to prove he was on her side? He knew how proud Rika was. But he was in the same situation, just as scared and sad. He'd wanted to say more, but he figured he'd better find another spot until they both cooled off. Arguing wouldn't help. They were all each other had right now.

The loss had felt a lot more real when said out loud. They'd both guessed what must have happened — they'd absorbed their Digimon's data, or at least part of it, after being sucked into that rift. It might even be how they both managed to survive at all.

On one hand, it was a little comforting to think that part of Cyberdramon was still with him. But it was horrible to think he'd never see his partner again. As difficult as Cyberdramon had been sometimes, they'd had a bond. A deep, hard-won bond.

"Ryo," Rika said.

Ryo turned around. She still wasn't looking at him, but he was sure he'd heard her. She'd wrapped her arms around herself, as if trying to make herself as small as possible. "Yeah?"

"You...Don't go. I'm sorry. This is hard for you too."

It wasn't a question. That echo he was feeling, she must be feeling too. Another way they were connected now.

"Do you really blame me for what happened?"

Rika shook her head. "I know it wasn't your fault. And I was a pretty big asshole just now."

Ryo walked back to the fire, hesitating before he sat down. "Okay, but are you sure you want me around yet? I can go away if you need to be alone. I get it." He paused. "And I _can_ build a fire on my own, despite what some critics around here might say."

Rika wiped her eyes and then promptly rolled them at him. "Come on, don't be all noble and self-suffering." But there wasn't any bite to her voice, like before. She patted the ground next to her.

Ryo sat down next to her, close but not touching. To his surprise, Rika muttered something and pulled him close enough to her that their shoulders and arms touched, just barely.

It was a little like before — a kind of energy flowed between them. Ryo felt Rika's pain more strongly with contact, but pretty soon it became masked by the feeling of connectedness between them. More than just human touch — their connection was comforting, soothing in a way he couldn't fully explain. Soon, he got lost in the feeling.

"They're not gone," Rika said firmly. "Just...changed. Like you said earlier, our Digivices aren't static yet. So we'll figure out some way to get them back. You know I won't give up until we do, so you better not, either."

"Deal."

Rika didn't say anything, but Ryo felt her start to feel better. He did too.

After a while of sitting in silence, Rika broke contact. She crossed her arms on her knees and rested her chin on them. She shivered. "That's really freaking weird," she said. _ButkindofniceIguess_ , she mumbled into her arms as she turned her head sideways, away from him.

Ryo let out a little laugh. "What was that, Pumpkin? Did I hear you say that you actually enjoyed my company?"

"Oh please," Rika mumbled and shoved his shoulder, knocking him over. But there was a little jolt when she touched him, and she didn't take her hand off right away.

Ryo let out a huge, not-entirely-fake yawn. He stretched and laid down where he'd fallen. "Thanks for the help. Nice sleeping spot. Real cozy dirt right here."

"Oh, just go to sleep already. I'll take first watch."

Once he'd laid down, Ryo realized he was incredibly tired. He didn't even have time to think over what had happened that day. Between the warmth of the fire and Rika's soothing presence nearby, he was asleep in a matter of minutes.


End file.
